Wm Parkhurst 12 ga info wanted

A buddy of mine has this Wm Parkhurst 12 ga double. He was told that it dates from the 1880's. I haven't seen the barrels, but he told me that their exterior was in the same shape as the rest of the metal. He said the bore was shiny. It has a splinter forend that's cracked down the middle. He paid some guy to glue the forend together and refinish the stock. That guy did a crappy job of gluing the forend, lost all the screws, and coated the wood pieces with some kind of thick shellac.

My friend has all the pieces, just no screws. He's interested in approximate values, and how he should best go about putting the piece back together and getting it finished correctly. These are the only pics I could get, as his camera ran out of room on it's card. Any advice you could give would be greatly apppreciated!

Middle picture is too dim for me to see the proof marks. It is probably either cheap English or cheaper Belgian. Dollar value is low, firing safety is low. If he can undo the mess, it is a wallhanger.

ceetee

November 7, 2007, 04:31 PM

Is that better?

IIRC, the only other markings I saw were the number "14" stamped in the underside of each hammer. The bad thing is that someone told him (probably the guy that lost the screws) that it was worth several thousand dollars. What little I've been able to find out has led me to believe that the actual value will be nowhere near that.

I've found a couple of different answers. (edited to add: nuts, now I've lost the links. The 2nd answer was on shotgunworld.com) JT

1) Parkhurst was a brand name used on some "lower quality" English shotguns from around 1890 to about 1905 or so. I used the quotes because frankly, it's bull. In England, if it wasn't made for the higher ups in society and cost a thousand pounds, it was called "lower quality". Parkhurst guns were simply aimed at the working man's budget and they sold a LOT of them all over the place!

You can still find them all over the US, probably still by the thousands in Brit farmhouses, Australia, NZ, Canada etc.

They roughly correspond to Folsom/Crescent shotguns over here in the US in terms of quality. They were rock solid, reliable weapons and every farmer had one sitting behind his door.

When they were "made" in England, they were manufactured by J.P. Clabrough and co....and they could have gotten it from about a half a dozen actual makers so knowing who actually made it is next to impossible. If it's an English gun, it should be labeled "William Parkhurst"....if it's one of the later Belgian ones (made by Simonis, Janssen and Dumoulin approx 1906-1938), it'll be "Wm. Parkhurst".

"Laminated steel" on those old guns was a type of welded damascus, yes. They aren't safe to shoot with modern ammo so don't even consider it!

I'm sorry to say they aren't very valuable as much more than wall hangers these days. On a good day, if yours was in especially fine condition, you might get $500. Most average in the $125-180 range. On the other hand, yours appears to be an English one so that would make it over a hundred years old....and to be honest, I've never even heard of a 10ga Parkhurst.

2) Parkhurst shotguns were made in England by J.P. Clabrough & Brothers., and in Belgium by Simonis, Janssen & Dumoulin. After 1906 they were all made in Belgium(I thought S,J,&D closed up in 1905, ofcourse maybe someone else took over the name or name contract).
It sounds like one of the relatively common guns imported by Sears (and anyone else who ordered a bunch could get their trade name marked on them).Generally considered to be wallhangers, most are of doubtful safety to use with modern ammo unless checked by a competent gunsmith.

There was also a Wm Parkhurst who made percussion guns in New Hampshire in the later part of the 1800's maybe he was the vendors of these guns....

I saw one reference where the chambers are 2 5/8ths which wouldn't lend themselves to modern ammo very well.

Most all the sources say lower value, saw on for sale as a wall hanger for $50, most were $200-$300 but one enterprising fellow had one listed for $2400. Butterfields Auction House had one listed expected it to bring 400 - 800 (pounds Sterling??)

Jim Watson

November 7, 2007, 05:33 PM

One of the proof marks now visible is the Belgian "perrin". So you have a later Belgian Parkhurst. Cheap Belgian. Maybe they were rock solid a hundred years ago, but not now. And not even in good enough condition to be an attractive wallhanger.

On the other hand, if it was the guy who messed it up and lost the screws (How about the hammers?) who said it was worth thousands, maybe he could sue him based on his own "expert" appraisal.

ceetee

November 7, 2007, 10:20 PM

Well darn... I was hoping my friend had lucked into a windfall. He's a nice guy. He does have the hammers, as well as all the other parts - just no screws. I've already told him that it probably wouldn't be wise to shoot it without having it inspected by someone that knows more about them than his first 'gunsmith'.

Thanks for all the info! I knew somebody here would know.

hueytaxi

November 10, 2007, 10:30 PM

I also have a Parkhurst 12 ga double. If anyone out there just has to have one, I am certainly open to offers in 4 figures:)

WalkerCountyBoy

August 11, 2009, 02:52 PM

well i see this thread is from 2007 but i was wondering if anyone else had any info on the WM Parkhurst. I have one and i just recently found out that it was a Parkhurst. I typed in wm parkhurst on google and this is the first thing that came up, so i was interested in knowing where this gun and when it was manufactured? thanks for any answers.